Puppet War:FPS iPhone review

The puppets in Puppet War:FPS have the number one TV show in the world, The Friendly Puppet Show, but that’s not enough; they want to take over the world. It’s the next logical step, no?

Conversely, there’s a lot about Puppet War:FPS that doesn’t make sense. Puppets capable of independent thought and movement, for example. And exploding fish. And a TV studio strewn with weaponry. But that’s all part of the fun. Indeed, it’s the most fun I’ve had gaming on the iPhone in a while.

The puppets’ bid for world domination begins – and ideally ends – in the TV studio. You play a janitor, and it’s up to you to save the day. Puppet War:FPS is an “arena” FPS, which means the action takes place in a fixed location; survival is the name of the game, with a fixed number of enemies to dispatch in each level.

The action occasionally threatens to become a little tedious, as Puppet War:FPS reuses each level a handful of times, and essentially all you’re doing is scrapping with puppets. Thankfully, there’s a weapon shop to keep things interesting.

There are 17 weapons in all; seven melee and 10 firearms. Taking on an army of puppets with a submachine gun and a samurai sword is every bit as satisfying as it sounds.

The puppets are a pain in the balls. You’ll quickly learn to hate the little bastards. Among others, there’s the basic puppet that simply runs at you, a little guy who bounces around awkwardly, and – my personal favourite – the zombie puppet. And yes, you can blow off the zombie puppets’ heads with a shotgun. Furging. Awesome.

The controls are about as good as you can expect on a touchscreen, probably on a par with those in Gameloft’s N.O.V.A. and Modern Combat series. Needless to say it’s a poor substitute for dual analogue sticks, but if you want a proper controller go play your Xbox, man.

Oh, and kudos to Oren and Alon Bentov – aka Twindigo – for including the option to invert the y-axis. I’ll never understand people who swipe down for down and up for up. It’s just plain wrong.

Speaking of those Gameloft games, they’re probably your best bet for iPhone-based FPS action, but Puppet War:FPS has the advantage of being just 59p (for a “limited time” at least). That’s a fair bit cheaper than the £3-4 you’ll pay for Gameloft pie.

Pros

Lots of weapons

Various puppets

Zombies!

Cons

Other than the usual touchscreen/iPhone gripes… nope

Summary: Mowing down puppets is great fun. It’s not often that I return to a game once I’ve fulfilled my review-related obligations, but I’ll definitely be picking up Puppet War:FPS again.